For House Owners

Landownership Scotland can answer any type of enquiry that relates to property ownership. Some possible areas where we can assist you are:

Owner of vacant land adjacent to your property

There may be an overgrown lane at the side of your house and, if only you could buy a part of it, you could build that extension or garage you don't have room for within your boundary. Landownership Scotland can find out who owns the lane and try to put you in touch with them or their solicitor.

It may be that when you bought your house, the previous owners told you that the ground at the end of the back garden did not actually belong to them, but you've been using it as part of your garden and would now like to make it legally part of your title. Landownership Scotland can find who does officially own the ground.

The history of your house

This is especially interesting if you live in an old house. Since each property has its own individual search sheet, we can fairly easily find out all the previous owners and the prices they paid, going back to 1876. We can search much further back than this, although it can be time-consuming depending on the names involved and incur a larger fee. In the older titles, the occupation of the buyer is usually given, as well as their previous address.

For example, one property we researched used to be owned by a former Lord Provost of Edinburgh and the former owner of another property was the British High Commissioner to the Bahamas. Click on the section for The Records above for information on how they work. If your house is in the Land Register, we will be able to give you a copy of the information held in your Land Certificate, which includes a plan of your property.

This type of historical information is sometimes used by commercial enterprises like hotels or public houses in a plaque displayed on the premises.